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“I was never able to conquer the distance between persons. An animal is fixed to its here-and-now by the senses, but man manages to detach himself, to remember, to sympathize with others, to visualize their states of mind and feelings: this, fortunately, is not true. In such attempts at pseudo merging and transferral we are only able, imperfectly, darkly, to visualize ourselves.
What would happen to us if we could truly sympathize with others, feel with them, suffer for them? The fact that human anguish, fear, and suffering melt away with the death of the individual, that nothing remains of the ascents, the declines, the orgasms, and the agonies, is a praiseworthy gift of evolution, which made us like the animals. If from every unfortunate, from every victim, there remained even a single atom of his feelings, if thus grew the inheritance of
the generations, if even a spark could pass from man to man, the world would be full of raw, bowel-torn howling.
We are like snails, each stuck to his own leaf.”
―
What would happen to us if we could truly sympathize with others, feel with them, suffer for them? The fact that human anguish, fear, and suffering melt away with the death of the individual, that nothing remains of the ascents, the declines, the orgasms, and the agonies, is a praiseworthy gift of evolution, which made us like the animals. If from every unfortunate, from every victim, there remained even a single atom of his feelings, if thus grew the inheritance of
the generations, if even a spark could pass from man to man, the world would be full of raw, bowel-torn howling.
We are like snails, each stuck to his own leaf.”
―
“The semanticists maintained that everything depends on how you interpret the words “potato,” “is” and “moving.” Since the key here is the operational copula “is,” one must examine “is” rigorously. Whereupon they set to work on an Encyclopedia of Cosmic Semasiology, devoting the first four volumes to a discussion of the operational referents of “is.” The neopositivists maintained that it is not clusters of potatoes one directly perceives, but clusters of sensory impressions. Then, employing symbolic logic, they created terms for “cluster of impressions” and “cluster of potatoes,” devised a special calculus of propositions all in algebraic signs and after using up several seas of ink reached the mathematically precise and absolutely undeniable conclusion that 0=0.”
― The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
― The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
“No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets.”
―
―
“It was not possible to think except with one’s brain, no one could stand outside himself in order to check the functioning of his inner processes.”
― Solaris
― Solaris
“Nefret ediyordum doğadan! Her şeyin her şeyi yemesinden! Bütün döngünün, her şeyin her şeyi yiyerek sürüp gitmesinden nefret ediyordum. Başka türlü olamaz mıydı? Başka bir seçenek yok muydu? Bu muydu, o muhteşem ve mükemmel doğa, dedikleri? Bu doğayı yaratan her neyse ya da kimse, nasıl bir sadistti ki "Öyle bir düzen kuracağım ki sırf yaşamak için herkes birbirini gebertecek!" diyebilmişti. Birbirini yiyen o hayvanlar, her şeyi yiyen o insanlar, bütün cesetleri yiyen o böcekler, o böcekleri yiyen başka böcekler..."Hepsinin de amına koyayım!" diye bağırıyordum. "Bu doğayı hayal edenin de, bütün bu et yiyip kan içme sahnelerine mucize diyip, hepsi için şükredenlerin de ta amına koyayım!" O kadar sinirlenmiştim ki yanımda kağıt kalem olsa derhal bir dilekçe yazardım. Madem, bütün o dinler yazıya dökülüp kitap olmuştu, demek ki kullanılması gereken iletişim tekniği buydu. Ben de bir şikayet mektubu yazıp atacaktım havaya, ya da Allah ya da Tanrı ya da şu ya da bu, her neredeyse oraya! Madem Kuran, "Oku!" diye başlıyordu, ben de mektubun başına "Sen de bunu oku!" diye yazacaktım!”
― Daha
― Daha
Turkish Reading Challenges
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Grubumuz, Türk Edebiyatı ile ilgili kitapları tartışabileceğimiz ve bilgilerimizi paylaşacağımız bir yer olarak kurulmuştur. Discussion for non-Turki ...more
Spinifex Press Book Club
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Join us for a discussion on Spinifex Press books. Whether it is the latest poetry, fiction or non-fiction release, we want to hear what you think abou ...more
Evren’s 2025 Year in Books
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